Best in NZ for work/life balance

IT employers in the Hamilton/BoP region take flexible working conditions seriously and this may be the reason why they have the happiest IT workforce in New Zealand.

Flexible working hours is rated as the number one non-financial benefit by Hamilton/BoP IT professionals and IT employers in the area are taking it to heart.

“We asked IT employers what their top business challenge is and ‘developing IT systems that support BYO devices and flexible working options’ came out tops for this region.

This is interesting as IT employers in Wellington and Christchurch rate ‘attracting and retaining staff’ as their biggest challenge while Auckland IT employers are worried about growing their market share,” says Grant Burley, Management Consultant at Absolute IT.

When asked about their work/life balance, 47% of IT job seekers rate it as above average, 47% rate it as average and only 6% rate it as below average.

“This region fares the best in terms of work/life balance in New Zealand. In Auckland and Christchurch 10% of the IT job seekers rate their work/life balance as below average and in Wellington it is 7%, so it seems that employers in Hamilton/BoP are getting it right.”

Tech sector snapshot

“Hamilton has the fourth largest tech sector employee base in New Zealand is regarded as the innovation hub of the Waikato region. It excels in the Agritech, ICT, Manufacturing and Utility sectors and provides 6,609 jobs in the tech sector and generates $1.06 billion of our GDP. Tauranga is not far behind, it has a fast-growing tech sector that offers almost 4,000 jobs and generates $545 million of GDP, and we expect these figures to keep rising each year.”

The most in-demand IT skills from employers in the region are Business Analysis, Project Management and Networking/Infrastructure skill sets and the most prevalent skills on offer are software development, business analysis and support/helpdesk.

Over the past two years, the Hamilton/Bay of Plenty region has seen considerable growth in their population, mostly driven by an outflow of residents from the Auckland region. “The increased interest in this area is evident as average house prices are up by 27% in Tauranga and 25% in Hamilton (QV, October 2016) and commercial building consents for October 2016 in Tauranga were valued at $17million, almost double the figure of $10.4m from October 2015,” says Burley.

Gender split

Women make up 16% of the IT workforce and the top roles filled by women in Hamilton/BoP is a Business Analyst, followed by Testing & QA and IT Security. The picture is a bit different for men, who make up 84% of the workforce with Software Developers, IT Management and Helpdesk the top roles filled by men.

“There is not a big difference in terms of gender profiles for permanent versus contracting roles. The majority of IT job seekers are permanently employed and contracting rates for men and women in this region are quite similar, 13% of men and 11% of women are contracting.

With its beautiful nature, excellent working conditions and exciting opportunities for growth the Hamilton/BoP region is a region to watch as it is on track to become the next IT hot spot in New Zealand.